Freedom of Information Request – Ref: 216-2024
Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. Please find our response below.
SECTION 1: Hospital Demographics
You asked:
Please indicate your trust/hospital type and type of care:
Our response:
Mental Health, Community, Other (please specify) – Learning Disabilities
You asked:
Please indicate your trust/hospital type of care:
Our response:
Mental health/Learning Disabilities (MH/LD) – Tertiary
Community – Other: Community
You asked:
Total Number of Beds: Please indicate the total number of inpatient beds in your hospital, including all types (e.g., general, ICU, maternity) if applicable
Our response:
MH/LD – 164
Community – 173 across 6 sites
You asked:
ICU/ITU Bed Count: How many beds are designated for intensive or high-dependency care?
Our response:
MH/LD – 0
Community: 0
You asked:
Annual Admissions: Please provide the total number of patient admissions in the last calendar year. If exact figures are unavailable, please provide your best estimate.
Our response:
MH/LD – 515
Community – 1894
You asked:
Formal Procurement Policies: Does your hospital have formal policies or guidelines for medical equipment procurement?
Our response:
Yes – Staff have access to local Medical Equipment intranet page and Medical Devices Policy.
You asked:
Designated Procurement Roles: Is there a designated individual or team responsible for managing the procurement of medical equipment?
Our response:
Yes – Procurement Shared Services (external resource), Senior Contract & Procurement Manager (internal resource), Michael Banks (Head of Estates & Facilities Professional Services, Alison Hartless (Medical Equipment Manager), Ben Adams (Deputy Medical Equipment Manager)
You asked:
Inventory Review Frequency: How often is your medical equipment inventory reviewed for excess or unused items?
Our response:
Other (please specify) – Team leads / administrators are invited to alert the medical equipment team of surplus equipment. Monthly medical devices group meetings allows for team representatives to alert the medical equipment team.
You asked:
Primary Sources for Procurement: What are the primary sources for your medical equipment procurement?
Our response:
NHS Supply Chain is the primary source.
You asked:
Excess/Expired Equipment: What percentage of your medical equipment inventory was classified as excess, unused, or expired in the last 12 months?
Our response:
We don’t have the ability to classify our inventory in this way
You asked:
Disposal Responsibility: Is there a specific role or department responsible for overseeing the disposal of medical equipment?
Our response:
Yes – Medical Equipment Team and Medical Engineering team
You asked:
Formal Disposal Policy: Does your hospital have a formal policy for the disposal of medical equipment?
Our response:
Medical Devices Policy
You asked:
Types of Commonly Disposed Equipment: Please specify the types of medical equipment most commonly disposed of due to expiry or non-use. Include examples and approximate percentages for each type, if possible
Our response:
We don’t have the ability to classify our inventory in this way
You asked:
Sustainability Initiatives: Does your hospital have a sustainability initiative for recycling, reuse, or redistribution of excess or unused medical equipment?
Our response:
Unused medical equipment is firstly offered to other teams/services/departments and if not required due to age or obsolescence it is auctioned through specialist medical equipment auctioneers. If no residual value then we work with several local charities who will transport to war torn or 3rd world countries.
You asked:
Disposal of Excess or Expired Equipment: How does your hospital manage the disposal of excess, expired, or damaged equipment? Please provide a breakdown by disposal method and indicate the approximate amount (in tonnes) used per year for each method.
Our response:
Amount in tonnes not available but we utilise Recycling, Donation and medical equipment auctioneers
You asked:
Compliance with Disposal Guidelines: How does your hospital ensure compliance with national or NHS guidelines on the disposal and management of medical equipment?
Our response:
Internal audits – yes
External audits – yes
Regular staff training – yes
Other (please specify) – supportive network of staff who can alert the medical equipment team of any concerns.
You asked:
Internal Audits of Equipment Management: Has your hospital conducted internal audits within the last 12 months to assess the management of excess medical equipment?
Our response:
Yes – we have undertaken individual site audits in the last 12 months across our inpatient units and smaller community sites to update any incorrectly listed devices on the database.
Next steps:
Should you have any queries in relation to our response, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your request and wish to ask us to review our response, you should write to:
Louise Moss
Head of Legal Services / Associate Director of Corporate Governance
c/o Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Edward Jenner Court
1010 Pioneer Avenue
Gloucester Business Park
Brockworth, GL3 4AW
E-mail: louise.moss@ghc.nhs.uk
If you are not content with the outcome of any review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for further advice/guidance. Generally, the ICO will not consider your case unless you have exhausted your enquiries with the Trust which should include considering the use of the Trust’s formal complaints procedure. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.